Mumbai: Jeweller shares phone number in ad, gets extortion threats

A 60-year-old jeweller from Bandra, who shared his mobile number in an online advertisement so prospective customers could reach him, recently received a series of threatening messages from an unknown person demanding extortion money from him. The extortionist, in one of the messages written in English, stated that the complainant's shop and house are in his sight.

According to the Bandra police, the complainant runs a jewellery shop in Bandra (west). He stated in his complaint that he had published an advertisement for his shop on the internet and had also shared his mobile number so that prospective customers could contact him. The phone with the said number is always kept in the shop. At around 12 pm on Thursday, one of the staffers from the shop informed him that three threatening messages were sent to the number via WhatsApp on Wednesday.

One of the messages written in Hindi instructed the complainant to keep Rs 5 lakh ready by evening the next day. In the event of not meeting this demand, the extortionist told the complainant that he alone would be responsible for the harm caused to his family members. Around 4.33 am on Thursday, two more messages were received via WhatsApp stating, “I'm waiting for your response. Your shop and your house are in my sight.”

Wasting no time, the complainant approached the police and got an offence registered in the matter on Thursday. The police are trying to get clues from the WhatsApp number used to issue threats to the complainant.